Retirement and forum shutdown (17 Jan 2022)
Hi,
John Howell who has managed the forum for years is getting on and wishes to retire from the role of managing it.
Over the years, he has managed the forum through good days and bad days and he has always been fair.
He has managed to bring his passion for fish keeping to the forum and keep it going for so long.
I wish to thank John for his hard work in keeping the forum going.
With John wishing to "retire" from the role of managing the forum and the forum receiving very little traffic, I think we must agree that forum has come to a natural conclusion and it's time to put it to rest.
I am proposing that the forum be made read-only from March 2022 onwards and that no new users or content be created. The website is still registered for several more years, so the content will still be accessible but no new topics or replies will be allowed.
If there is interest from the ITFS or other fish keeping clubs, we may redirect traffic to them or to a Facebook group but will not actively manage it.
I'd like to thank everyone over the years who helped with forum, posted a reply, started a new topic, ask a question and helped a newbie in fish keeping. And thank you to the sponsors who helped us along the away. Hopefully it made the hobby stronger.
I'd especially like to thank John Howell and Valerie Rousseau for all of their contributions, without them the forum would have never been has successful.
Thank you
Darragh Sherwin
new member
Im new here and heard loads about this forum and am looking forward to learning new ideas and generally gaining more info about fish.Ive had a community tank for a while but have since more to the beautiful cichlid family.Im really new to cichlids so please bare with me as im a mere learner.I have a small 100 ltr running at the minute with 6 small cichlids.I am also in the process of having my own 700ltr made so any tips would be geat and i would appreicate them so be sure not to be shy
Anyway i plan to keep cichlids in it and was wondering what plants if any is recommended.I no they like rock for PH and have already purchased lots of nice shapes and sizes but can i also put DEADWOOD branches in?whats the best sand{ect}.Looking forward to hearing from all you experianced fishkeepers
THANK YOU
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The 700l tank you are getting made sounds amazing! What kind of cichlids do you plan ot keep? Africans, South / Central American? or have you decided yet?
Regarding plants in a cichlid set-up, unless you are dealing with Hardy plants, they don’t have much of a chance, so could be best off opting for just hardscaping, rockwork and wood to create the aquascape.
Regarding the substrate, its entirely up to personal choice but can be determined on the species you choose to keep. For example, a coral sand will make the water more alkaline and also make it harder, so typically only going to be suitable for a Rift Valley set-up. Most people would recommend sand for a cichlid set-up regardless of the region they come from, whether silica sand, coral sand etc.
Obviously if you choose to add plants to the set-up, you may want to go with a substrate suitable for plants, although with the addition of fertilizers, this is not always necessary. Plenty of people on here grow plants with great success in nothing more than sand with the addition of liquid ferts. Depending of the species of cichlid you choose to keep, it may be difficult to maintain even hardy plants, any of the species that are referred to as sand sifters will uproot most plants while foraging for food.
I think with a 700l tank, the cost of the substrate will be a deciding factor too, coral sand would be very expensive for that size of tank. Silica sand used for sandblasting is a good substrate, a few lads here use that too, can be a nice pale colour, small consistent particle size and typically very clean, also quite cheap at about €5 for a 20Kg bag.
You mentioned addition of rocks to adjust pH too, again, depending on the kind of cichlids you want to keep and your source water parameters, this may be required. Please bear in mind, it can be a nightmare to maintain a stable pH if you have to adjust the parameters of the water. It can be easy to get the desired pH, maintaining it can be the problem. Limestone, coral, aragonite sand, coral sand etc can all be used to raise the pH.
May be worth posting the parameters of your water source and also in your 100l tank, would help in getting good advice on the best options to go with to give you the least trouble.
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Secondly..spudmic!
Welcome to the forum the future setup sounds brill awaiting pics when you can,
Plus you'll learn alot here, Enjoy!!
Stephen M.
Juwel Vision 260-
20ltr-Fluval Spec-
19ltr-Fluval Chi-
Keep The Water Fresh-
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Thank you for your speedy reply.I plan to keep african cichlids [MALAWI] in he tank.I will definatly leave out the plants and stick to the rockwork and wood on your advice and and will choose silica sand to save an extra buck for fish :)I think some set ups are like a big plasma screen and there for you could watch them all day
and that is what im planning for hence the big tank and also Bill i was wondering how many i could fit in to thats size tank?Really appreicate you time and knowlageTHANK YOU...LES
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Ger
What do you call a three legged Donkey?
A Wonkey....duh ha
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100L 2 Foot Betta Aquarium & Cabinet For Sale:
www.adverts.ie/pet-accessories/100l-aqua...-accessories/2240157
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This is a really good place to be and look forward to becoming a pro
as i no i will with all you guys so THANK YOU ALL Please Log in to join the conversation.
Kev.
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Just wanna say thank you to every1 for such a great welcome.....
This is a really good place to be and look forward to becoming a pro
welcome along and enjoy the forum, contribute and pass on your expierences, as for becoming a PRO well i'm keeping fish nearly 28yrs and still consider myself a beginner, you will always be learning in this hobby and thats the best part of it so enjoy it. i know a good bit about fish but now my learning curve is planted tanks so fun all the way
Fishkeeping the Only way to get wet and wild
currently 25 tanks, and breeding is the aim of everything i keep
location:Limerick
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